Space Shuttle missions, Mars and the NASA - do you still care?

[Takumaji]

While I was casually watching yesterday's successful launch of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on top of an Atlas V rocket, I thought about my own fascination of astronauts and the US space program when I was little... back then, I read anything about the moon landing I could lay my hands on and I never questioned the necessity of spending billions of dollars to bring a few ppl to the moon and back. When I grew up and found out about the political agenda behind the space program, I began to view the whole thing in a different light.

Compared to the Space Shuttle missions of today, the Apollo program almost looked like a walk in the park, even tho there was a time when dozens of Shuttles were launched and ppl slowly got the impression that space travel and even interplanetary/interstellar travel would be just a matter of a few years.

Then came the first low blow when Challenger exploded in a gigantic fireball in 1986, followed by the Columbia desaster in 2003 - NASA has never been the same ever since. It also was in 1986 were many ppl started to take a closer look at the Shuttle program, and most of them came to the conclusion that this what we call space flight in reality is a tedious, extremly expensive and very dangerous task where thousands of engineers and IT specialists work their asses off to shoot an air-tight can with six or seven people in it into space for god knows what reasons. Many of us probably realized by now that even with all our computers, super-advanced engineering skills and roughly 50 years of experience, space travel still is far from being an everyday routine like the NASA and several other space agencies wanted to make us believe.

Now they want to send astronauts to Mars, but this not only will take decades to complete but also will be the most expensive space mission ever, given that sending the (unmanned) Reconnaisance Orbiter to Mars already costs $720 million... IMO that's slightly insane.

Well - what about you guys, do you still care about manned space flight? Do we really need to set foot on Mars?

Discuss.

 

[Baseley09]

Yeah it's interesting, tho it doesnt seem anymore advanced than 20 years ago, the shuttles look the same, nothings happening.

We were lied to about the future, Judgement Day has gone, the Decepticons havnt destroyed Autobot City & I have no hoverboard.

This future stuff aint all cracked up to what its meant to be.

 

[Spike Spiegel]

I've always wanted to see us really take off (so to speak) in space discovery and so on. We've come to a complete stand still. I was actually thinking about this very thing a few nights back coming home from work, looking at the moon. I see the moon and I think "we were there.... WTF are we doing now?" It's a joke. If you watch the movie 2001, Aurther C. Clark had it right. We would be doing pretty much all that stuff now... IF we had kept up with it. But no.

At this point, NASA is a joke. They waste too much money, and how have we improved? We really haven't. I used to be in love with the stars and what's out there, but now it really doesn't matter 'till we get out heads out of our asses.

 

[SML]

We need to go to mars because we'll need raw materials for our Dyson Sphere.

 

[Lashujin]

I've always thought space travel was worth it, but not the shuttle program.

Nasa wastes money and accomplishes nothing with it. We seriously made some useful technological gains with the apollo etc... programs

 

[RAINBOW PONY]

We were lied to about the future, Judgement Day has gone, the Decepticons havnt destroyed Autobot City & I have no hoverboard.

quoted for truth

 

[jaydubnb]

As with some many other things in the world, it's all about politics.

Without a super-power rival also rushing into space as was the case in the 50s/60s there's no ergency to push forward quickly.

Plus, we need to get a new shuttle line that's not based on aged tech.

I would get excited again if I shuttle could launch and go directly into Mars' orbit.

 

[BlackSpy]

If it means there isn't enough money to make a new generation of nuclear bomb or death ray or whatever I'm all for it. It's also just going to mean it's more years till Feelgood get's his monkey.

I heard an interesting point on the radio the other day, that if they can't send robots because they aren't up to the task, then get robots that are. The space programme is all about advancing technology, so lets get some super advanced robots out of it.

I am opposed to robots taking over the Earth.

 

[toy_brain]

The way I see it, is that in a billon or so years time, the sun is due to go supernova and anhialate earth and everything on it.
Or a huge meteorite is due to crash into us before that.
Or the whole global warming thing if we dont get our collective act togeather.

Either way, we need to develop the means to get off this rock. Its a matter of basic human survival.

So yea. I still care.

 

[Stinky-Dinkins]

Without a super-power rival also rushing into space as was the case in the 50s/60s there's no ergency to push forward quickly.

China recently announced that they're going to the moon, whatever importance that has today.

 

[RAINBOW PONY]

sooner or later, we will have to leave the earth as it will no longer be habitable, so traveling to mars etc, is a good idea so when the time comes we aren't holding our dicks. but since none of us will have to worry about that in our lifetime, I could give a fuck all if they do it or not.

 

[SuperGunGuru]

I'd care more if they did something. It is sad to think that we went to the moon (unless you are a conspiracy believer) and what has our space program done since then? Nothing of major importance. If we go back to the moon, go to Mars in my lifetime, then I'd be interested. All we do now is orit the earth in the shuttles, maybe dock with the int. space station and that's it. Seems like a step backwards from the Apollo program.

 

[RAINBOW PONY]

I'd care more if they did something. It is sad to think that we went to the moon (unless you are a conspiracy believer) and what has our space program done since then? Nothing of major importance. If we go back to the moon, go to Mars in my lifetime, then I'd be interested. All we do now is orit the earth in the shuttles, maybe dock with the int. space station and that's it. Seems like a step backwards from the Apollo program.

well the arguement is, there is nothing left to do on the moon, we already went there, we know there's nothing there, we can't really build anything there, there is nothing to study there. so it would be a huge waste of money, but it would be cool to see a live feed i admit on TV. or just maybe we've never gone back because they never went in the first place and know nowadays they couldn't bullshit a moon landing, they don't wanna risk fucking up the myth that we've been.

 

[Takumaji]

I don't believe in space migration as a viable option for mankind to survive a deadly global desaster by escaping from earth to Mars or a large moon base. I mean, just look at the ISS and the insane amounts of money and labour the US and other nations have put into it... it's been years since the mission kick-off, but the station is far from being useable, except for shooting some of the usual zero gravity nonsense footage with astronauts throwing food around. So, if they can't even build a space station in earth orbit within ten years, a manned moon or mars base seems completely impossible.

IMO, space agencies throughout the world should work on improving the base for space travel, the engines. Just think about it, even the technically advanced Shuttles use solid boosters to reach their orbit, a technique which has been invented one thousand years ago by the Chinese.... it's time for something new, all that rocket/jet engine stuff is too clumsy and offers only limited levels of control.

Where's Hyperdrive, dammit...

 

[rarehero]

well. we never made it to moon.
my dad believes we did.
but he also believes W is a great president.

honestly i can't believe that with the great minds of engineers
physicists and scientists we've like tak mention have been in
a slump of non improvement of technology regarding space travel.
sad really.

 

[Mark of the Wolves]

I never really cared about this type of stuff anyway. I never was the kid to play like I was an astronaut or anything. Nowadays I think about it when I am watching Gundam or something. Like man I wish we had colonies and mobile suits and shit. That's it tough. When you really think about how things have progressed since the moon landing you really see that a future never was there and certainly won't be for a loooooooong time. Doesn't bother me one bit though. I'm happy right where I am.

 

[EVIL NICK]

We need to go to mars because we'll need raw materials for our Dyson Sphere.

That would be Jupiter, not Mars...

 

[syringe]

well. we never made it to moon.
my dad believes we did.
but he also believes W is a great president.

honestly i can't believe that with the great minds of engineers
physicists and scientists we've like tak mention have been in
a slump of non improvement of technology regarding space travel.
sad really.

We made it to the moon.

Fuck Conspiracy theories.

Deal with reality.

The space program has been the source of numerous technological innovations throughout the decades and will continue to be so in the future.

Scientific progress doesn't always head in the direction you would want or even nessicarily expect.

Do you know how much important research has been done on MIR, ISS and Shuttles in orbit?

We haven't gone to mars yet.

So what?

The next step is going to be the democraticization of space travel.

Look at the X prize.

Space flight is already getting interesting again.

It's just heading in a direction that most people hadn't expected.
--
Going into space is tedius, expenisve and has cost human lives.

So what?

So was sailing across the ocean during the age of exploration.

What if they had decided back then that exploration simply wasn't worth the trouble?

We'd be sitting in our isolated little corner of existance unsure and uncertain of what lay beyond it.

What's out there?

I don't know.

Why?

Because I never bothered to go and look.
-
The west would of remained a political, cultural and technological backwater.

You could forget about global trade or communications since we simply wouldn't have a sense of what the world really was.

We got to this point by going out and exploring even though what we did when we found something wasn't always what you would define as good (lol, colonialism.)

But on the upside it did eventually allow us to map out the entire world and begin a trend of ever-improving transportation and general interconnectedness.
-
To suggest that we turn our backs on the unknown rather than explore it is not only cowardly, but short sighted as well.

Things like interstellar travel are most certainly beyond the scope of our lifetime, but if we abandon manned exploration doesn't that mean we're closing the door on an entire future of possibilities?

 

[SouthtownKid]

sooner or later, we will have to leave the earth as it will no longer be habitable, so traveling to mars etc, is a good idea so when the time comes we aren't holding our dicks.

Newsflash: Mars is already not habitable.

 

[syringe]

Newsflash: Mars is already not habitable.

This is true as of right now.

But it doesn't mean that we won't have the tools to do something about that in some point off in the future.

You could consider terraforming an entire planet to be pure science fiction but up until a few years so was cloning.

To invest in space exploration and other areas of scientific research is simply an investment in the future.
-
This whole argument against space travel reminds me of the argument against the possible need for personal computers from the 1970's to the early 1990's. The critics would going on and on about how these things that we're so dependent on would never take off and how it was a waste of time for everyone in involved from the CEO's of silicion valley right on down.

Technological conservatism is a risky position.

 

[rarehero]

We made it to the moon.

Fuck Conspiracy theories.

Deal with reality.

hahah.
alright.
believe what you want to believe.

 

[Lagduf]

I firmly believe in the stuff Kennedy was talking about in the early 60's. Many push off his speeches as cold war rhetoric, but he sounds more like a man of vision, a man who knew what America was all about.

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

My favorite part of this speech being "We choose to to the moon in this decade and do other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard"

I think we're finally realizing the Shuttle system we have in place is not working. But with the advent of the X-Prize and the possibilities of commercial space travel on the horizon, things are looking up.

We should never abandon space travel, i wholeheartedly support it.

 

[Takumaji]

well the arguement is, there is nothing left to do on the moon, we already went there, we know there's nothing there, we can't really build anything there, there is nothing to study there. so it would be a huge waste of money, but it would be cool to see a live feed i admit on TV. or just maybe we've never gone back because they never went in the first place and know nowadays they couldn't bullshit a moon landing, they don't wanna risk fucking up the myth that we've been.

Well, there IS something of value on moon and mars, there are minerals, certain metals and other geological stuff which could be exploited by building mining facilities and manned bases up there to send the raw materials back to earth, but again, that would be expensive and very difficult to achieve.

Personally, I still don't question the necessity to leave earth for a while and explore the planets and moons within reach, I just think the means (shuttles, rockets, etc.) we use for that are more or less outdated now, they should dump all that old crap, cut the defense budget a little and invest the money in developing a technology which gives us space ships, not giant firework rockets.

The reason why the space program doesn't seem to really 'take off' is the lack of funds. The first golden era of space travel from the 1950s to 1989 was due to the cold war, it was a matter of national pride, so money never was an issue.

Heh, perhaps it wouldn't be too bad if the Chinese actually started a moon mission, perhaps this would give the whole thing a new spin, or bring back the 'old spin' to be precise because I bet China's space program is not entirely based on scientific interest but on a good amount of propaganda.... anyway, the Russians will be extremly pissed should the Chinese set foot on moon one day, that's for sure...

 

[galfordo]

China recently announced that they're going to the moon, whatever importance that has today.

Talk about some brave mother fuckers ... how'd you like to be shot into space in something that says "made in China" on the side?

I wonder if the Chinese spacecraft with emit all kinds of pretty colors and make a whistling sound when it explodes?

 

[SouthtownKid]

Mars is already not habitable.

This is true as of right now.

But it doesn't mean that we won't have the tools to do something about that in some point off in the future.

Yeah, okay, Alfred Einstein, but if you had the tools to do so, maybe you could...use them to make the Earth habitable again.

I'm all for the space program, and I'm in favor of manned missions to Mars. I just wanted to point out that if the Earth became "no longer habitable," as per DashK's prediction, and we weren't able to do anything about that, escaping to lifeless, airless Mars wouldn't be much of a solution.